Blog Post #20 - Stereotypes and Representation Research

       An important aspect of any form of media content and creation is how individuals, groups, and places are represented and displayed. Representing these categories is vital because it aids in developing meaning throughout the entire production and encourages the audiences perspective to widen and consider the point of view being displayed by the producer. This can often be shown through stereotypes that often portray oversimplified beliefs and myths surrounding gender, race, nationality, weight, religion, and age. 

       The best way to show this in film, specifically documentaries is through real people. Through the use of various interviews of multiple people in any form or genre of a documentary shows stereotypes and counter stereotypes which can be defined as an idea or concept that directly opposes a stereotype. This is typically an ideal and mental picture that a group utilizes to defend themselves from being grouped together by society. By using interviews to the reversing sides of the story, more individuals in audiences can be lastingly impacted as they can observe and take in the views and perspectives of others being overtaken by such concepts. This route will help me during the development of my documentary because I can use this tactic to display the behind-the-scenes of players lives beyond what is shown to the naked eye of spectator. 

      This applies to my documentary because I am working around stereotypes surrounding athletes. More specifically, female athletes at a young age. This is because in today's society, more and more people judge girls like this and say they are unfocused and wasting their time away because women's sports tend to be significantly less cherished as compared to mens. Here, it becomes more of a gender issue as individuals lose their love for their sport since society essentially begins cracking down on them at a very vulnerable and perceptive age. 

Some Girls from the team

      I want to achieve my goal of representing these concepts in my documentary because it is a topic often not considered and ignored. There are so many assumptions surrounding young student athletes that feel degrading and unempathetic towards the fact that they are still teenagers regardless of how much they choose to take on. This addition of representation in my documentary project will ultimately make it more rounded and impactful in the full span of it which elevates it to a higher level.